In Eary v. Commonwealth, 659 S.W.2d 198, 200 (Ky. 1983), the Kentucky Supreme Court interpreted the Kentucky prohibited possessor statute, which provided: A person is guilty of possession of a handgun by a convicted felon when he possesses, manufactures, or transports a handgun when he has been convicted of a felony, as defined by the laws of the jurisdiction in which he was convicted, in any state or federal court and has not: (a) Been granted a full pardon by the governor or by the president of the United States; or (b) Been granted relief by the United States secretary of the treasury pursuant to the Federal Gun Control Act of 1968, as amended. In Eary, the court held that subsection (b) was a "negative" issue and was not, therefore, an element that the government had to prove. 659 S.W.2d at 200. The court relied on an earlier opinion by the Kentucky Court of Appeals, Duvall v. Commonwealth, 593 S.W.2d 884, 886 (Ky. App. 1979), which had found that subsection (a) was not an element of the crime, instead holding it was "a negative issue" and the commonwealth was not required to offer proof that defendant was not within the class of people excluded from the statute's operation. Id.